LDistance.com's 

~ Now Presenting ~

PHONE 101 - Long Distance Telephone Service News Summary

Welcome to one of the most informative sites on the internet about your phone bill. You've arrived here because you found or were notified about information that can save you money on your phone bill. This site is a no-nonsense, fact-based informational presentation. 

Figuring out your phone bill is like buying Insurance. Its very intricate with twist and turns, options and features. You get it down once, make a choice, then forget it. Its too complicated to repeat often. There are hundreds of "companies" all saying their rate is the best ... the lowest ... whatever. They bombard you with snail mail (US Mail for those of you who are not computer geeks), email, telemarketing, radio ads ... ad nausea.

From the general public to the communications manager of small or large business, all agree - "I'm sick and tired of all the hype, false claims, slamming (getting switched to another long distance carrier without your authority), etc."  That's the Bad News. Or, is it? There's even worse news: You are almost certainly over paying for your phone service and don't have the information to make an intelligent choice.

Ever notice that the products and services you have to use and use the most always creep up in cost? Think about that - you are paying more and more for something you have to have. Ever try to understand HOW they charge, or try to shop for the best and cheapest deal, or try to buy from an alternative supplier for these things we'll call the GOTCHA LIST?:

Postage Stamps Insurance (Medical, House, Car, ...)

Cable TV Electricity Natural Gas Phone Service

Whereas, the things you don't have to buy or at least, have very simple and voluminous choices of, go UP AND DOWN in price?

Fuel for you car Food Clothing Used Cars Investments Used Cars

Let's call this the STAPLES LIST. You can get them anywhere, from anybody. The suppliers all offer basically the same product or service. You can shop for them easily and almost always save money. Well, we're going to help shift Phone Service from the Gotcha List to the Staples List. Lets begin by taking a quick look at some FACTS about the Telephone Industry:

In the 1970's AT&T was the only game in town. You didn't have a choice. They had a monopoly. You were paying 30+ cents a minute for long distance.

In the 1980's the Government broke up AT&T into several different companies to spur competition. They allowed other companies to enter the market. What happened? Prices fell to around 15 - 18 cents a minute. Side light: did you know that at that time AT&T offered different rates, ranging from 28 cents to 16 cents a minute? We did and you should have, because you could have saved big money on your phone bill had you known. Thanks a bunch, AT&T.

In the 1990's the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required SBC to offer competitors access to the public local phone network at reasonable, allowing other companies to offer local services. Dozens of companies were offering long distance and Sprint, MCI, and WorldCom became Long Distance Kings. Prices fell to under 10 cents a minute and features and options such as call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, interLATA, intraLATA, 6 second billing, minimum usage, etc. all became difficult to understand, hard to evaluate, harder to compare and most of all, added charges to your phone bill.

Today, regardless of what Long Distance or Local Service Carrier you're with, there are multiple choices, multiple plans to choose from ... and they don't make much sense ... and you probably are not aware of the all of, or how to compare the many alternative choices ... and most of all, you could probably lower you bill substantially, even if you stayed with your current carrier! You don't believe it? Call your current Long Distance Carrier. Don't say you're an existing customer. Do say you're a New Customer. Ask them to explain the various options and choices that are available. Compare that to what you are paying. Then you can get mad and ask yourself "why didn't they" ...? "why didn't I"?

Recently (January 2003), all the Major Long Distance companies very quietly "announced" long distance rate increases. Didn't see it? They were there alright - buried on page 9 of some non-descript section of your newspaper. They said something like "XXX (you name it: AT&T, MCI, Spring, WorldCom ...) announces that effective XXX rates on interLATA and intraLATA calls will increase ..."  Don't feel bad, almost nobody saw it. We did see it and we make it our business to continually search for these non-descript announcements, find the best deals, identify the newest features and choices. 

So, what's the UPSHOT? They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Get the Picture?.

That's right. Costs are heading up again. If you'll spend a few minutes going thru a simple check list you'll wind up with the best rate today. It may change tomorrow, or next week, or next year. But, at least you can rest assured you made the best choice and it will probably last for a long time. Kind of like buying a new or fairly new used car. You shopped it hard, made intelligent choices, made your decision and can smile about it for years.

If you're not interested at this time, thanks for visiting our site and we welcome you back at any time. If you are interested, spend just a couple more minutes - press on.

Check Rates